Soapbox on Youtube

Check out Soapbox's new Youtube channel here: http://www.youtube.com/soapboxinc

In June, Soapbox Inc invited young feminists from around the country to a week-long Feminist Summer Camp in NYC! Here's a clip of some of the campers hanging out (pun!) at SLAM!, feminist motion architect Elizabeth Streb's studio. The campers obviously enjoyed the chance to kick back after a week of running around the City meeting with feminist organizations!

Posted on Thursday, July 22, 2010 at 03:02PM by Registered Commentersoapbox admin | Comments Off

Feminist Summer Camper's Article Featured on CampusProgress.org

Extremely amazing activist (and Feminist Summer Camper 2010) Stephanie Herold has an article this week on Campus Progress about the myth that young feminists don't exist. In the article, Stephanie gives many examples of the new--mostly online--avenues of activism that young feminists are creating every day!

Posted on Wednesday, July 21, 2010 at 12:15PM by Registered Commentersoapbox admin | Comments Off

Soapbox Feminist Summer Camp on Salon.com

In a really nice article from earlier this week, Stephanie Hughes gives a peek into what Soapbox's Feminist Summer Camp is all about. Although it's difficult to explain what a mix of personal and professional development each session is, she shines a light on some specific ways that camp promotes community-building in every sense; AND features perspectives from both recent campers and an older alumna! We're so happy to hear about what people learned from their camp experiences--if you'd like to add your two cents, please let us know! And if you're interested in attending next January's Winter Term (the less sweltering, more sweater-ing version of summer camp), click here!

Posted on Wednesday, July 7, 2010 at 05:13PM by Registered Commentersoapbox admin | Comments Off

Ms. Magazine Blog Gives Love to Feminist Summer Camp (Quiz-Style!)

Now that Summer Camp's over, fight off the post-camp blues with a fun quiz on the Ms. Magazine Blog! For non-campers, test your NYC Feminism knowledge and see if maybe you should consider a trip to camp!

Ms. Magazine Blog Quiz

Posted on Wednesday, July 7, 2010 at 04:41PM by Registered Commentersoapbox admin | Comments Off

Soapbox Feminist Summer Camp on Phem.org

Awesome Feminist Summer Camper, Amy Edler, is blogging over at Phem.org about FSC 2010.  Check it out here!

(photo by Amy Edler)

Posted on Friday, June 18, 2010 at 03:22PM by Registered Commentersoapbox admin | Comments Off

Soapbox Feminist Summer Camp on NHPR

Soapbox Feminist Summer Camp 2010 was featured on New Hampshire Public Radio!  Click here for the piece, which was aired on Word of Mouth. 

Posted on Friday, June 18, 2010 at 03:17PM by Registered Commentersoapbox admin | Comments Off

Feminist Summer Camp, Part 2

Wednesday

The group met at the Ms. Foundation for Women today to hear from Suzanne Grossman, Kara Pollard Elverson, and Melissa Marie Gonzalez about feminism in the workplace, career advice, and grad school. We learned about job searching tips, the importance of researching grad school programs, the importance of putting ourselves out there, and a lot of other advice. 

When that informative session was over, we had lunch and listened to Courtney Martin, Julie Scelfo, and Veronica Chambers talk about different feminist approaches to media. Courtney talked about her journey as a freelance feminist author, writing a book and blogging for Feministing.com. Julie discussed her background as a journalist and her experience at various big-name news corporations, such as Newsweek and the New York Times. Veronica talked about her experience at Glamour magazine and their Women of the Year awards ceremony. 

We traveled to the Feminist Press in Manhattan and discovered what it means to run a feminist publishing company. We learned about what makes a book feminist enough to be published by the press, about the various tasks of Feminist Press interns, the long and powerful history of the organization, and the steps it takes for a book to be published. We had a short but lively debate about the future of print media and the impact of reading devices (such as iPads and Kindles) and then left for Bust magazine

At Bust, we met with Debbie Stoller, Executive Director and one of the Founders of the magazines. She told us about the history of Bust, her conception of cultural feminism, her vision for the magazine and how it's changed over the years. We talked briefly about blogs and magazines and then left to go our separate ways for dinner. 
Many members of the group went to a happy hour event sponsored by Paradigm Shift, Soapbox, and Feministing.com. We schmoozed with the feminist elite of NYC including Shelby Knox, Jessica Valenti, the staff of Paradigm Shift, Courtney Martin, and many more! It was surreal and amazing to be in the same room as so many brilliant women. 

Thursday

This morning we met in Brooklyn at a space called Powder Keg, a place created by writers as an intentional space for writing and creativity. We had an introduction to the space by two of the writers who established it and they told us about its history and how they modeled it on Virginia Woolf's idea that each writer needs a room (or space) of her own. 

The Guerilla Girls came and gave us an interactive workshop about their work protesting the lack of women's work in the art world, particularly focusing on theaters that don't perform and produce plays written by women. They had us create our own one minute visual representation of certain issues in feminism, such as intersectionality, the power of language, why feminism is considered a "bad word," and gender  non-conformity. 

The two women who founded Arts Effects came and talked to us about their theater company that focuses on promoting good relationships between girls. Their teen girl campers wrote a play that ended up touring across the country and winning several awards. They had us talk about our feminist click moments and improv short plays that incorporate all of our experiences. 

We took the train to a different part of Brooklyn to a place called Streb Lab for Action Mechanics, where we learned what pop action art is and participated in an hour and a half long pop action class. We learned different dance/action techniques, such as the "klump," and practiced "popping" into different poses.

Friday

We each had our own feminist internship today! Some people went for four hours, others for eight or more hours, at different feminist organizations all around NYC.



Posted on Friday, June 18, 2010 at 03:09PM by Registered Commentersoapbox admin | Comments Off

Feminist Summer Camp, Part 1

Feminist Summer Camp is something to write home about!  We'll be posting updates from the past week here at Soapbox Blog. Big thanks to Feminist Summer Camper, Steph, for these posts!

Monday
 Feminist Summer Camp started out with a bang! Or really, a click -- we started the morning by having brunch in Central Park and talking about our feminist "click" moments. The group split into two groups to learn about sex trafficking; one group went to the Sex Worker's Project and the other went to the NoVo Foundation

At the Novo Foundation, we talked with Pam Shiffman. Here's a re-cap of our discussion: 
- NoVo works to end violence against women and girls, particularly in countries in conflict or post-conflict situations and also works to end sex trafficking
- There are two main models of feminist and human rights frames for thinking about sex trafficking. One is the Dutch model, or the regulatory model, and the other is the Swedish model 
- NoVo focuses on the Swedish model, which operates under the assumptions that prostitution is akin to violence against women, women end up in sex work because of a lack of other choices, state policy should be criminalizing those who exploit women as well as their customers, and that sex workers should be entitled to state benefits such as welfare
- NoVo thinks about this work in terms gender equality, and that most women want other options besides sex work

We discussed the positive and negative sides of this approach as well as the importance of demanding more of our governments and of not resigning ourselves to compromise when it comes to our rights. We also discussed how to reconcile the differences between people working on all aspects of sex work and sex trafficking advocacy. 

We then went to Babeland, a sex-positive, feminist sex shop to learn about what it means to be sex positive and, of course, browsed Babeland's huge selection of sex toys. After a lunch break, we headed to the International Women's Health Coalition. We met with Audacia Ray and Lori Adelman to talk about IWHC's work surrounding sex work and sex trafficking. 

Here is a summary of our discussion: 
- IWHC  works to empower local leaders and organizations, advocate in the UN and national capitals, mobilize women and young people to act, and inform power brokers, influentials, and health professionals-  
- Sex worker rights are human rights: bodily autonomy, right to work and support your family, freedom from violence and coercion 
- What is the difference between sex work and sex trafficking? Sex work can be a choice, whereas trafficking implies moving people across borders without consent, or having people perform actions without their consent 
- There are economic realities and inequities that put women into sex work, and the sex industry will not disappear with the economic inequities still in place 
We also watched a video documenting IWHC's work in India helping sex workers gain access to HIV testing and basic health services. 

Back at the Hostel, we had dinner with Shelby Knox, who talked to us about her experience growing up in Lubbock, TX, learning how to be a feminist organizer, and her vision for the future of feminism. Shelby inspired us to think about ways we can change and engage our communities at home, and the power of the voices of youth. 

Tuesday
Today our focus is reproductive justice. We split into different groups in the morning to go to different organizations within that movement. 

My group met with Lynn Paltrow, the Executive Director of National Advocates for Pregnant Women. We talked about the importance of expanding the pro-choice community to include people who fight for birthing rights. 

We also talked about:
- The importance of talking to people who don't necessarily consider themselves pro-choice but, through life experience, have come to understand the importance of women's health advocacy
- The similarities between between the birthing rights community and pro-choice community
- How a lot of current legislation makes it possible for states to overrule a woman's right to her body, control the kind of birth she wants, and what happens while she's in labor
After that stimulating conversation, everyone met up at the Third Wave Foundation to debrief about all of our experiences. We reflected on our different morning meetings with National Advocates for Pregnant Women, Choices in Childbirth, the Guttmacher Institute, and Choices Medical Center. We unpacked the difference between "pro-choice" and "reproductive justice" and how this benefits our movement. 

We watched a video produced by the Third Wave Foundation about all the dynamic, engaging work that their funded organizations do. We learned about Third Wave's emergency abortion fund and participated in an exercise that helped us think about the difficulties of abortion funding. When our time was over there, we split up to go to different meetings again. People went to either the Doula Project, Sistas on the Rise, or Spence Chapin Adoption Agency

At the Doula Project, we learned the difference between a doula and a midwife, and the different types of doula (birth, adoption, and abortion) that the Doula Project provides. We also talked about how doulas are trained, why doulas are needed, and how doulas help women across the spectrum of pregnancy. 
Posted on Friday, June 11, 2010 at 05:42PM by Registered Commentersoapbox admin | Comments Off

Soapbox speaker Org, PAVE, Featured on NPR

Congrats to PAVE for their recent involvement in an important story on NPR about rape on college campuses.  PAVE is a grassroots nonprofit organization that uses social, educational, and legislative tactics to raise awareness of sexual assault and was founded by Soapbox speaker and survivor, Angela Rose.  In the NPR story, PAVE's Survivor Justice Director Laura Dunn about her personal quest for justice.  You can hear the story here.  

Posted on Friday, March 19, 2010 at 12:14PM by Registered Commentersoapbox admin | Comments Off

Feminist Winter Term: Day 5

Recap of Feminist Philanthropy—the Perspective of Donors

We met at the Jewish Community Center for a lunch hosted by Sherri Sandler. The panel was Sherri Sandler, Anne Delaney, and Nancy Meyer. Each panelist talked a bit about how she came to giving, her family background, and her philosophy as a funder. Sherri Sandler defined feminism as “knowing what you want and asking for it.” Elona asked for advice as to how best to give, especially if you have less money, (i.e. under $30,000 per year in income). Nancy Meyer suggested asking two questions: “What can I afford to give this year?” and “What is bugging me most?” Anne Delaney underscored that the main reason she gives is that she is asked and even if she doesn’t have a particular passion for the work she is asked to fund, she will give a little and is happy to be exposed to the issue or work. They all referred to the consultant Tracy Gary, author of Inspired Legacies, as being particularly attuned to the concept of feminist philanthropy.

 

Recap of Third Wave Foundation

Melissa and Sheena of the Third Wave Foundation described its mission—a national regranting organization to support the social justice work of young feminist and trans activists age 15-30.  They took us through an exercise in making direct grants from the emergency abortion fund in which participants had $300 with which to make one or two grants, choosing among three emergency situations, which is something Third Wave staffers must do on a near daily basis.

 

Recap of Networking Party

We had fun at the Bubble Lounge and were joined by Kathleen Hanna (Le Tigre, Bikini Kill, riot grrl instigator), Molly Neuman (bratmobile, The Peechees, The Frumpies, riot grrl instigator), Vinnie Angel (Vinnie’s Tampon Case), Meredith Villano (Paradigm Shift), Shelby Knox, Gloria Jacobs and Jeanann Panasch (The Feminist Press), and others.

 



Posted on Wednesday, January 27, 2010 at 02:19PM by Registered Commentersoapbox admin | Comments Off

Feminist Winter Term: Day 4

Today our students explored various aspects of Reproductive Justice. 

In the morning session, students broke into smaller groups and attended reproductive justice meetings with: Choices in Childbirth, Guttmacher Institute, Choices Medical Clinic, Lynn Paltrow of National Advocates for Pregnant Women, and Planned Parenthood.

Recap of Boot Camp:

In the afternoon session, students met with two Planned Parenthood of NYC activists, who conducted a Reproductive Rights bootcamp.  Students learned how to take their knowledge about reproductive justice and put it into action.  They received many handouts and tips to become better activists.

 

Federal Overview: college students are not citizens, but constituents- and should feel compelled to continue with any plans for action if they please. Political knowledge will enhance activism and successfully gathering news can equip activists with the knowledge to make convincing arguments.

 

Tricky Subjects: the key to 'winning' for any activist and cause is to tell other what they care about. To communicate correctly, it is important to focus on framing your argument in a way that is both gentle to the opposition and convincing, bringing both sides together instead of provoking bumper sticker responses.

 

Activism 2.0: Why do we organize? Organizing can give us a collective voice, and allows us ....

1. to be powerful

2. to empower others

3. to create change

4. to be visible

5. to educate

 

Recruitment/Retention: split up work and make everyone within a group feel valued in order to create an excited and enthusiastic group. Similarly, remember that passive membership is still valuable, but it is important to engage the activists within your group and hold them accountable. Similarly, take responsibility for your own contributions and always follow up with your members to keep them engaged.


Posted on Wednesday, January 27, 2010 at 02:16PM by Registered Commentersoapbox admin | Comments Off

Feminist Winter Term: Day 3

Recap of Career/Grad School Panel:

 

Today we met with Will Simpkin, a career specialist at Barnard College, Kara Elverson, a front-line resume reader at Ms. Foundation for Women, and Melissa Gonzalez, a PhD Candidate in Spanish.  They each offered advice on how to choose a career, how to present yourself to employers or grad schools, and what to expect when looking for (or landing!) a job or internship.

 

Straight from Will Simpkin, the Associate Director of Civic Engagement at Barnard College, came golden advice for making a resume.

 

Five tips are:

1. Contact information—keep it professional! (You do not want to be pothead09@aol.com.)

2. Educational Informationkeep it succinct, with no more than 3-4 relevant courses from your CURRENT institution. High school should no longer be on a resume after graduation. And include your thesis title!

3. Experience: Part 1—Relevant, Part 2—Other

4. Leaderships and Involvement - include your high-profile and relevant ones in "Experience," and use this for anything less relevant.

5. Skills and Interests (interests is mostly filler.) Have no more than 4 interests.  List all software sets known, languages spoken.

 

Similarly, Kara Elverson of the Ms. Foundation spoke about what employers look for, how they scan resumes and cover letters, and the big no-no's of writing that "interested in" email. Some key hints were to avoid careless mistakes like sending a letter to the wrong addressee. She suggests putting a lot of time into each application, and to work on a different resume for each in order to best highlight experience that is relevant and valuable. She also stressed that academic papers are less helpful to employers as writing samples if you have professional writing available (including reports and blogs).

 

Also, some good news - the objective statement is dead, and you no longer have to lead with "Hi, my name is ______."

 

Melissa Gonzalez offered guidance to undergraduates about deciding to go to grad school.  She stressed that students should do thorough research and be well-prepared; send well-written samples, and edit them before sending them. Always have your materials observed and edited by more than your own eyes, and when it's crunch time, some people may or may not choose to live at home (again) while filling out applications.


In the afternoon, students attended personalized mini-internships at: AIR Gallery, Sadie Nash Leadership Institute, Ms. Foundation for Women, Third Wave Foundation, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Girls Write Now, Akashic Books, Scenarios USA, The Feminist Press, Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls, and Women Make Movies.

 



Posted on Wednesday, January 27, 2010 at 02:11PM by Registered Commentersoapbox admin | Comments Off

Feminist Winter Term: Day 2

Recap of Feminist Press:
We met with Gloria Jacobs, Executive Director of the FP, as well as her extended staff. Among the tales reguiled, we became familiar with some of the specifics of publishing, as well as feminist publishing specifically. The Feminist Press is the oldest feminist publisher in the world.
Some of the intricacies of the publishing process: editing, book design, and book promotions and author publicity, became familiar to us after our visit. It is clear that a lot of work goes into producing books- and making them successful! For the Feminist Press, the task also entails an extra step: "we do books that tell a different story," Jacobs said, noting that a new philosophy of the Press has been to expand their outlook to include social justice pieces not necessarily focused on women, but linked to them through their interests or well-being.
Check out their newest project at: underthemicroscope.com

Recap of WMC:
 The Soapbox Winter Term girls were exposed to a wide array of career advice when they stumbled into the Women's Media Center, snacking on Cosi sandwiches and huddling together for what became a panel discussion between Feministing's Courtney, Susan Dominus, and the WMC's Rebekah. What the activists learned was:
- Feminist work is often varied and multifaceted, and allows you to take on multiple roles
- Many times there are jobs that pay, and jobs that we are passionate about: and sometimes, you can have both.
- Writing is a good outlet for meeting other people, learning more about yourself, and gaining status in the academic world. Learning to interact with media will make you more powerful not only as an activist, but a citizen.
- Most media disparities in representations of women and women's issues could be changed if viewers actively engaged with broadcasters and publishers. Get your voice out there!
Check out the WMC's newest project at notunderthebus.com!

Recap of BUST:
Debbie of BUST does not have much to say about American Spirits, but she has a lot to say about feminism. Debbie, who founded the magazine with her friends and originally saw it as a side 'zine project, wants to use BUST to shift feminism from critics to creators. (Where BITCH will critique pop culture, BUST seeks to help feminists create and support feminist pop culture.)
Debbie wants BUST to be a magazine that gives women a varied perspective on their own lives, and allows them a space to be proud of their gender expression regardless of whether it is seen as butch, femme, feminist, or traditional. By reclaiming the "feminine" areas of magazine writing, like covering beauty and giving women recipes, BUST seeks to re-empower women to embrace the traditionally feminine while also praising women who push the boundaries in pop culture. "A feminist culture can be more than complaining. I see BUST as a celebration," she said.

 

Posted on Wednesday, January 13, 2010 at 03:10PM by Registered Commentersoapbox admin | Comments Off

Feminist Winter Term: Day 1

Yesterday, Soapbox, Speakers Who Speak Out, Inc. initiated a week of our Feminist Winter Term program.  You can learn more about the program here.

After a fabulous orientation with twenty students from across the country, we embarked on a meeting about trafficking and prostitution with the Barnaba Institute.  Later, the students met with Soapbox speaker and activist Shelby Knox

Follow along with our students throughout the week here at the Soapbox Blog!

Recap of Ms. Foundation w/ Barnaba Institute:
Our meeting with Frank Barnaba proved to be thought-provoking and compelling, with feedback, questions, and emotional stories filling the conference room at the Ms. Foundation. The session began with the screening of "Very Young Girls," which highlights the story of GEMS and the work that they do in New York with victims of human trafficking. The film revealed that the justice system often fails to accommodate for younger prostitutes because they are criminalized, and contrasted that with footage of a male police officer telling a room of convicted Johns that if they complete the seminar they are attending, their records will be clean. "It's that easy,' he says, to chuckles. 

Barnaba, who has spent a lifetime rescuing victims of trafficking through an individual approach and has even worked formerly through housing programming for various regions to provide them with safe, healing spaces, said that the challenge with human trafficking is often the justice system:

- Victims are often brainwashed by their pimps, who may recruit or kidnap them and then keep them within the trafficking work through emotional or physical manipulation or abuse, and are therefore hesitant to contact law enforcement
- Law enforcement personnel have been known to rape or take advantage of victims who come forward
- Victims may be internationally trafficked and therefore lack citizenship in the US
His approach, which is to find individual victims and convince them to try to leave behind trafficking, has been successful but somber. Barnaba has seen successes, but he has also witnessed victims with severe physical or emotional trauma and has seen firsthand the violent way in which they live and are treated. He believes the abolitionist approach is best, and he wants the entire industry of human trafficking to be outlawed and eradicated through relief programs like housing for victims.

Recap of Shelby Knox Visit
Shelby Knox came to eat dinner, and never before had so many people left Chinese Food to get cold! She was compelling and personal, and had the FWT cohort gathered in a small circle around her even as the clock ticked away, past the scheduled time of the meeting. 

Knox focused on a few main concepts related to her life's work in feminism and philanthropy during her visit:

- The Generational Divide, and how feminism can become a united front again, as well as how to decipher what may or may not separate us as "young" and "old"
- Her own coming-of-feminist and how she became more involved in speaking: "I loved it. I never went to class," she said, remarking that once she began speaking on campuses at the age of 18, she was hooked on activism and connecting with other passionate feminists through similar engagements
- The Reproductive Justice movement and how it has made room for younger and older feminists, people of color and racial justice, and people of different passions through the union of pro-choice activism, women's health advocacy, and comprehensive sexual education initiatives

(Thanks to Carmen Rios for providing the Feminist Winter Term recaps)



Posted on Tuesday, January 12, 2010 at 09:45AM by Registered Commentersoapbox admin | Comments Off

Soapbox at NWSA

 

 

  

Posted on Wednesday, November 25, 2009 at 03:11PM by Registered Commentersoapbox admin | Comments Off

Slut Bashing

We were saddened to see in a recent New York Times that Leora Tanenbaum's book Slut! Growing Up Female With a Bad Reputation, hasn't stopped slut bashing in high schools.  The Times reports:

The principal of Millburn High, New Jersey’s top-ranked high school, says it has gone on for a decade: annual hazing by senior girls who create a “slut list” of incoming freshmen for the first day of school.

If this type of hazing is going on at Millburn, we know it must be going on everywhere.  Contact us at jenandamy@soapboxinc.com to book Leora to talk to students about this issue. 

Posted on Thursday, September 24, 2009 at 04:10PM by Registered Commentersoapbox admin | Comments Off

Peggy Orenstein Speaks Out

Soapbox, Inc: Speakers Who Speak Out speaker, Peggy Orenstein, contributed to the discussions around Caster Semenya in a recent New York Times Magazine.  Her piece, What Makes a Woman a Woman?,  questions what validates her own gender.

Posted on Thursday, September 24, 2009 at 04:01PM by Registered Commentersoapbox admin | Comments Off

Panel Discussion: "WomenGirlsLadies" 

On Saturday June 20th, from 2-4pm, in the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Auditorium of the Sackler Center for Feminist Art, in the Brooklyn Museum, Courtney E. Martin and Gloria Feldt, among others will sit on a panel to discuss women’s lives, power, entitlement, and empowerment.

Posted on Monday, June 8, 2009 at 12:21PM by Registered Commentersoapbox admin | Comments Off

Honoring Dr. Tiller

Our speakers have often spoke out to defend Dr. Tiller and advocate for women's access to late abortions.  Here's a roundup of what they've had to say:

Amy Richards with Bill O'Reilley:

 

Shelby Knox twittered from a vigil honoring Dr. Tiller in NYC @ShelbyKnox.

 

Jennifer Baumgardner writes about late term abortion and Dr. Tiller in her recent book, Abortion & Life.

 

Gloria Feldt writes on behalf of Dr. George Tiller on Salon.com.

Katha Pollitt speaks out against Anti-Choice Terrorism in the blog And Another Thing.

Posted on Thursday, June 4, 2009 at 01:45PM by Registered Commentersoapbox admin | Comments Off

We've been "spoofed"

We apologize for the nuisance caused by unsolicited texts that have been sent from our website.  It seems that our site has been spoofed by spam-artists who are using or website and faux email addresses as a portal.  We are looking into how this is happening and are attempting to resolve it immediately.  Please be assured that you are not on any mailing list of ours and we are aware of this problem.  It was certainly never our intention to send spam texts and we are doing everything we can to resolve this issue! 

Posted on Wednesday, February 11, 2009 at 02:41PM by Registered Commentersoapbox admin | Comments Off
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